Tool holding brackets

ABSTRACT

A heavy tool holding floor anchored bracket  40  for holding a tool weighing  20  pounds or more in a vehicle  10  has a first end bracket  42  having an inverted “U” shaped securing opening  41  for inserting and securing an end of the tool and a second end bracket  44  having a “U” shaped opening  48  upon which the tool is supported. The second end bracket  44  is aligned with and spaced a distance from the first end bracket  42  such that a center of mass of tool lies between the first end bracket  42  and second end bracket  44 . A wall mounted tool holding bracket  30  for holding a tool weighing  20  pounds or more in a vehicle  10  has a housing  30 A having a wedge shaped opening  32  having a large width upper end opening  37  extending toward a small width lower end opening  38 . A centerline  36  of the wedge shaped opening  32  passes through the upper end opening  37  and the lower end opening  38  midway between the width of the first end opening and second end opening.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to heavy tool holding brackets adapted to support and hold tools that are being transported in vehicles, more particularly the heavy duty tools used in emergency rescue vehicles.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Currently modern fire departments and fire and rescue units have fire trucks and or emergency vehicles that are equipped to carry large pneumatic or hydraulic tools that are designed to spread, cut and otherwise provide access to a crushed vehicle at the scene of an accident. These tools include cutters that can cut through metal and steel, spreaders that con be positioned on vehicles to pull a vehicle apart to provide access into the doors when the doors are jammed and other devices that provide access into the vehicle to recover injured occupants so that they can be transported to the hospital. As can easily be appreciated these tools must be accessible very quickly to get to the location where needed and used immediately as the occupants survival sometimes depends on the quick actions of the rescue team on site. Most emergency vehicles have cabinets on tee side wherein these large tools are stored. These cabinets may have doors that swing open or preferably have roller type doors that can be lifted and stowed internally so that the door itself is not interfering with the action of the rescue team in trying to recover their tools from the cabinet.

As shown in FIG. 1, a typical emergency vehicle 10 is shown with cabinets 12 to store these particular heavy duty rescue tools such as spreaders and cutters. Many of these tools have hoses connected to generators or hydraulic power units. These toots must be ready to go as soon as the emergency crew gets in location. Typically these tools have either been thrown into the cabinet loose or alternatively attempts have been made to provide some mounting brackets to hold these devices. Typically a wall mounting bracket will support the tools by sitting it on the floor and strapping it or tying it into a wall bracket such that the tool is held in a vertical position. Hen the rescue personnel get on scene they must unlatch the tool from the wall mounting bracket, pivot it and pull it from the cabinet. The wall mounting brackets provide for vertical attachment and are secured generally with straps or other tying apparatus All of these features require time in order to remove the device so that the emergency personnel can move the equipment to the scene of the accident.

On the floor of the cabinet typical mounting brackets provide two parallel supports upon which a tool can be rested, these supports hold the tool in a horizontal plane and the operator upon stowing them tie straps around the tool to insure that it doesn't bounce or otherwise vibrate from the mounting bracket and are found laying loose by the time the emergency personnel arrive at their location.

Each of these tools weighs anywhere from 25 to more than 53 pounds, Accordingly when the rescue operator attempts to open the door and enter the cabinet area to access these tools, he must bend over, untie the unit, grasp the unit and pull it from the mounting bracket whether it be a vertical wall mounted bracket or a horizontally laid tool resting on a mounting support. By providing these mounting brackets, the cabinet is better organized, however, it has been determined that the majority of injuries caused to firefighters and emergency personnel are back injuries caused by heavy lifting or reaching for among other things these large tools in a rather cumbersome fashion such that the lower back of the rescue personnel is being strained as they try to reach into a cabinet and pull these heavy pieces of equipment out of the vehicle.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a superior means of supposing these heavy tools that will provide a strapless mounting of the tools onto a holding bracket such that the operator can pull the device out of the cabinet using minimal exertion on his back by providing the tool in a move readily accessible orientation prior to removal. The present invention provides a unique orientation of the tool during transport such that upon opening the access door the tool will be held in an orientation that greatly facilitates the removal of the tool so that it can be immediately used at the site, no untying or unlatching of the equipment is required by use of the present invention as described below.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A heavy tool holding floor anchored bracket for holding a tool weighing 20 pounds or more in a vehicle has a first end bracket having an inverted “U” shaped securing opening for inserting and securing an end of the tool and a second end bracket having a “U” shaped opening upon which the tool is supported. The second end bracket is aligned with and spaced a distance from the first end bracket such that a center of mass of tool lies between the first end bracket and second end bracket. The tool when mounted on the second end bracket and in the first end bracket is inclined at least 10 degrees or more relative to the floor so that the tool portion supported by the second end bracket is elevated relative to the end of the tool secured in the first end bracket.

A wall mounted tool holding bracket for holding a tool weighing 20 pounds or more in a vehicle has a housing having a wedge shaped opening having a large width upper end opening extending toward a small width lower end opening. A centerline of Me wedge shaped opening passes through the upper end opening and the lower end opening midway between the width of the upper end opening and lower end opening. The housing has a pair flanges, a side extending from each flange and a front extending between each side. When mounted to a wall, the housing is secured at the flanges. The sides, front and wall define the wedge shaped opening which has the centerline of the opening tilted at an angle between 30 and 60 degrees off a vertical direction relative to the vehicle. The housing is preferably formed from a sheet of non-corrosive metal such as aluminum or stainless steel.

An emergency vehicle having side compartments for stowing heavy tools has a side storage cabinet having a floor, vertical side walls, a rear wall and an access door covering a side facing access opening A wall bracket is attached to a side wall. The side wall bracket is a wedge shaped structure having a tapered opening having a larger opening at a first upper end and a smaller opening at an opposite second lower end. The bracket has a centerline extending through the larger and smaller openings. The centerline is inclined between 30 and 60 degrees off vertical, having the larger opening at the upper end tilled closer to the access opening. The tapered opening is for receiving, holding and securing a heavy toot in an inclined position for rapid removal and is preferably formed from a sheet of non-corrosive metal such as aluminum or stainless steel.

The emergency vehicle may include a floor bracket for attachment to the floor of the cabinet. The floor bracket having a first end bracket end and a second end bracket. The first end bracket is an inverted “U” shaped structure with a securing opening into which a first end of a heavy tool is inserted and the second end bracket is an open “U” shaped structure for holding a second end of a tool. The second end bracket end is closer to the access opening and vertically higher than the opening of first end bracket. When held in the floor bracket the held tool has the second end of the tool tilted and inclined at least 10 degrees or more vertically upward relative to the first end of the tool to permit rapid removal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary emergency vehicle with side storage compartments.

FIG. 2 shows an open storage compartment of the exemplar emergency vehicle.

FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of a tool holding bracket for wall mounting made according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows the tool holding bracket of FIG. 3 mounted on a side wall of a storage compartment of an emergency vehicle.

FIG. 5 so a perspective view of a floor mounted tool holding bracket according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a plan view of the floor mounted tool holding bracket anchored to the floor of a storage compartment according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

An emergency vehicle is shown in FIG. 1 the vehicle, commonly referred to as a pumper firetruck 10, has a plurality of side compartments 12 for storage of various emergency rescue tools and other equipment.

As in FIG. 2 each side compartment 12 includes an access door 14 that covers access opening 13 of the compartment 12. Each compartment 12 as shown in FIG. 2, has a floor 15, a pair of side walls 16 and a rear wall 18. Each compartment 12 basically becomes a cabinet for storage of such tools that are needed in the rescue operation for gaining access to vehicles. The side walls 16 and rear walls 18 vertically extend from the floor 15 upwardly and the compartments 12 provide a cabinet for storage of the associated tools and equipment. Each cabinet or compartment may 12 have a width, depth and height that vary according to the location on the side of the vehicle 10. As shown in FIG. 1, the cabinets or compartments 12 over the wheel well are substantially shorter than the cabinets 12 in front of or behind the rear wheels 11 of the vehicle 10 as illustrated.

In order to properly store the equipment and tools needed certain prior art brackets have been proposed to hold the toots. These brackets generally provide either vertical or horizontal storage of the equipment and as such further require straps and or locking mechanisms to hold the equipment in place while stored on these brackets. The present invention found a unique way of designing brackets which eliminates the need for any strapping or additional tie downs to secure the equipment. The brackets of the present invention are uniquely adapted to work with heavy equipment or heavy tools, tools weighing as much as 20 pounds or more, sometimes as much as 50 pounds can be stored very conveniently and easily.

By utilizing the weight of the tool in association with the proper orientation of the tool, he tool can be maintained in a secure manner without the need for tie downs or strapping. As illustrated in FIG. 3 a wall mounted bracket 30 is illustrated, the wall mounted bracket 30 as shown has a housing 30A formed from a single piece of sheet metal preferably a non corrosive metal of heavy gauge such as aluminum or stainless steel. This wall mounted bracket 30 as illustrated has a pair of flanges 31 that extend outwardly from a wedge shaped opening 32, the flanges 31 are attached to the side wall 16 using a plurality of fasteners 25. The wedge shaped opening 32 is formed from a pair of sides 33, 34 and a front 35 with an tar end opening 37 much wider than at a lower end opening 38. The opposing sides 33, 34 taper inwardly to provide the wedge shaped opening 32 and in combination with the front plate 35 in between the two sides 33, 34 when mounted to a side wall 16 of a cabinet 12 define the opening 32 of the wedge shaped tool holding bracket 30 which provides an opening 32 that is wider at the top upper end opening 37 and narrower at the bottom lower end opening 38 such that one end of a heavy tool 60 such as a cutter or a spreader 60 can be slipped into the wide upper end opening 37 portion of the opening 32 and fitted snugly extending toward the smaller lower end 38 of the opening 32 as the tool is placed in its proper holding position. As shown halfway between the width of the larger upper end opening 37 and halfway between the width of the smaller lower end opening 38 a line can be dawn defining the center line 36 of the opening 32. The center line 36 of this opening 32 preferably is tilted when mounted on the side wall 16 of a vehicle cabinet 12, this tilting ensures that the larger width upper end opening 37 extends towards the access opening 13 of the compartment or cabinet 12 such that the large end opening portion 37 is tilted facing outwardly and extends above the lower smaller end opening 38 portion of the wedge shaped bracket 30. The center line 36 preferably being tilted off vertical by an angle θ, θ being approximately 45 degrees preferably in a rant of 30 to 60 degrees off vertical as shown in FIG. 4. When a tool 60 is placed into the wall mounted tool holding bracket 30 as illustrated, the emergency rescue personnel upon opening the side door 14 or rolling the side door 14 up will have the equipment or tool 60 tilted in such an angle with an end 62 of the tool 60 tilted toward the access opening 13 of the cabinet 12 making it easily accessible. A simple pulling of the tool 60 out of this wedge shaped tool holding bracket 30 simply requires the operator to grasp the closer, higher end 62 of the tool 60 with one hand and a lower portion of the tool closer to the wedge mounting bracket with the other hand and lifting in an inclined fashion. This lifting occurs with minimal twisting of the back and is an orientation that as soon as the operator has the piece of equipment removed from the wedge shaped tool holding bracket 30 mounted on the wall 16 the tool itself will be at an orientation that closely approximates the orientation at which the rescue personnel would normally carry the equipment. This has been found to be a great help in reducing back injuries to emergency personnel responding to vehicle accidents. Since these tools weigh anywhere from 20 to 50 pounds or more, it has been found that reaching, bending and twisting to pull the equipment from the side mounted compartments is a source of back injuries. The present invention by providing the tool in a readily accessible fashion already tilted in a position that one would normally carry the tool greatly reduces the occurrence of these injuries. It has been found that the equipment mounted on the wall mounted bracket 30 as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4 provide not only greater ease of removal and facilitates carrying of the tools, but it also provides greater utilization of the cabinet storage space in that the equipment instead of lying on the floor 15 can now be mounted on the wall providing more floor space for other tools or generators 65.

With reference to FIGS. 5 and 6, a floor mounted tool holding bracket 4 made according to the present invention is illustrated, wherein the tool holding bracket 40 can have a first end bracket 42 that preferably has an inverted “U” shape structure tapering to the floor to provide a tool securing opening 41 such that a tool can be inserted into the securing opening 41 securing the tool at a first end. Preferably this first end bracket 42 is mounted in a direction towards the center of the vehicle. As illustrated, the bracket 42 has a pair of flanges 46 attached to the floor 15 with fasteners 25. The bracket 42 has sides 47 extending to a sloped front 48 to define the opening 41 for securing and end of a tool 70. At an opposite end and spaced from the first end bracket 42 is a second end tool holding bracket 44 that has a “U” or cup shaped opening 48 and has a construction extending vertically upward from the floor. As shown, this second end bracket 44 may be formed by a sheet of metal having at least one flange 45 or preferably two flanges 45 mounted on the floor and attached directly to the floor. This second end bracket 44 is spaced from the first end bracket 42 a distance d such that when a tool 70 is placed inside opening 41 of the first end bracket 42 and on top of the “U” shaped opening 48 of the second end bracket 44, the center of mass 72 of the tool 70 is located between the first end bracket 42 and second end bracket 44 preferably closer to the securing opening 41 of the first end bracket 42. As shown the first end bracket 42 securing opening 41 is at a lower vertical location than the “U” shaped owning 48 of the second end bracket 44 such that a titling angle is created. This tilt angle α is preferably at least 10 degrees vertically higher at the second end bracket 44 relative to securing opening 41 such that the center line 73 of the tool 70 is tilted approximately 10 degrees when placed in the floor mounted tool holding bracket 40. The second end bracket 44 being closer to the access opening of the compartment 12 permits the operator to reach in to a compartment 12 with two hands, one hand grasping the lower end of the tool 70 closest to the first end bracket 42 and the other grasping the higher end of the tool 70 closer to the access opening in such a fashion that the tool 70 while in a tilted position permits the operator to lift and pull the tool in the direction of the access opening 13 and the tool will be oriented at an angle closely approximating the orientation that one would normally carry the tool when walking. Again this orientation of the tool provides a greatly reduced risk of back injuries when lifting these heavy tools from the compartment, Secondarily, by having the first end bracket 42 wherein the end 74 of the tool 70 is wedged into the securing opening 41 which slopes towards the floor 15 as shown and supported or cradled on, a “U” shaped portion or opening 48 of the sell end bracket 44, no additional strapping or tie downs are required when using this floor mounted bracket 40.

Optionally the floor mounted bracket 40 between the first end bracket 42 and the second end bracket 44 can have optionally a base plate 49 in which the second end bracket 44 and the first end bracket end 42 are rigidly attached or can be formed integrally such that the base mounting plate 49 can be secured to the floor directly in this fashion the individual bracket mounting flanges can be eliminated.

As shown in FIG. 6 the floor mounted tool holding bracket 40 is shown wherein a tool 70 shown in dashed lines has the center line of the tool 70 oriented at an angle α so that α is approximately 10 degrees off horizontal. This bracket 40 can be made out of sheet metal arm is preferably made of a non corrosive metal such as aluminum or stainless steel. As shown the thickness of the bracket 40 can be adjusted according to the weight of the tool being supported. As shown the gauge thickness of the sheet metal floor bracket 40 is approximately 0.090 of an inch of aluminum. This has been found to be sufficient in holding these heavy tools. Additionally, structural gussets can be welded onto either of the tool holding brackets 30 or 40 particularly the second end 44 of the bracket 40 to provide additional stiffening if desired.

Variations in the present invention are possible in light of the description of it provided herein. While certain representative embodiments and details have been shown for the purpose of illustrating the subject invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in this art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the scope of the subject invention. It is, therefore, to be understood that changes can be made in the particular embodiments described which will be within the full intended scope of the invention as defined by the following appended claims. 

1. A heavy tool holding floor anchored bracket for holding a tool weighing 20 pounds or more in a vehicle comprises: a first end bracket having an inverted “U” shaped opening for inserting and securing an end of the tool; a second end bracket having a “U” shaped opening upon which the tool is supported, the second end bracket being aligned with and spaced a distance from the first end bracket such that a center of mass of tool lies between the first end bracket and second end bracket; and wherein the tool when mounted on the second end bracket and in the first end bracket is inclined at least 10 degrees or more relative to the floor the tool portion supported by the second end bracket being elevated relative to the end of the tool secured in the first end bracket.
 2. A wall mounted tool holding bracket for holding a tool weighing 20 pounds or more in a vehicle comprises: a housing having a wedge shaped opening having a large width upper end opening extending toward a small width lower end opening, a centerline of the wedge shaped opening passes through the upper end opening and the lower end opening midway between the width of the upper end opening and lower end opening, the housing having a pair flanges, a side extending from each flange and a front extending between each side, wherein when mounted to a wall the housing is secured at the flanges, the sides, front and wall define the wedge shaped opening, the centerline of the opening is tilted at an angle between 30 and 60 degrees off a vertical direction relative to the vehicle.
 3. The emergency vehicle of claim 4 having side compartments for stowing heavy tools further comprises; a wall bracket attached to a side wall, the side wall bracket being a wedge shaped structure having a tapered opening having larger opening at a first upper end and smaller opening at an opposite second lower end, the bracket having a centerline extending through the larger and small openings, the centerline being inclined between 30 and 60 degrees off vertical and having the larger opening at the upper end tilted closer to the access opening, the tapered opening for receiving, holding and securing a heavy tool in an inclined position for rapid removal.
 4. An emergency vehicle having side compartments for storing heavy tools comprises: a side storage cabinet having a floor, vertical side walls, a rear wall and an access door covering a side facing access opening; a floor bracket for attachment to the floor of the cabinet, the floor bracket having a first end bracket end and a second end bracket, the first end bracket end being an inverted “U” shaped structure with an opening into which a first end of a heavy tool is inserted and the second end bracket being an open “U” shaped structure for holding a second end of a tool, the second end bracket end being closer to the access opening and vertically higher than the opening of first end bracket, wherein the second end of the tool being held is tilted and inclined at least 10 degrees or more vertically upward relative to the first end of the tool to permit rapid removal. 